Improvements in Care in Renaissance Britain (AQA GCSE History)

How much did care improve in Renaissance Britain? - Summary

Care in Renaissance Britain saw some improvements. Physicians became slightly more skilled due to the influence of Renaissance ideas. They began to focus more on observation and studying the human body, inspired by people like Vesalius. However, physicians continued to be very expensive, so most people relied on cheaper alternatives, like apothecaries or local healers.

Apothecaries and surgeons played an important role in providing care. Apothecaries began using new ingredients for treatments, such as ginger and the bark of the Cinchona tree. Surgeons also made progress, thanks to individuals like Ambroise Paré, who developed more effective methods of wound treatment. However, surgeons and apothecaries still did not know about germs, so their work was often limited by a lack of understanding.

Hospitals also underwent some changes during the Renaissance. Hospitals began focusing more on caring for the sick rather than just providing shelter. Some even employed trained medical staff. By the end of the 18th century, hospitals became more specialist and effective in treating patients. However, hospitals charged for treatment which excluded many from accessing their care.

Renaissance apothecaries & surgeons

• The medics from the medieval period continued to care for the sick in the Renaissance

• There had been some developments in their ideas and practices

Apothecaries

• Apothecaries had guild systems

  • This improved service to customers

• Apothecaries continued to provide herbal remedies

  • latrochemistry provided more remedies for apothecaries to formulate

• Education improved:

  • It took multiple years of practice as a journeyman to become a master in the profession

• Apothecaries required a license to practice their craft

• Apothecaries continued to be an affordable choice for treatment but could also prescribe ineffective or dangerous remedies

Surgeons

• Surgery needed to advance

  • Weaponry and warfare became more dangerous 

  • This caused more complex wounds and injuries that needed surgery

• Similar to apothecaries, the education of surgeons improved

  • Surgeons undertook an apprenticeship to learn the necessary skills from a master barber-surgeon

• Surgeons required a license to practice their craft

• Surgeons continued to operate on those who could not afford a physician 

• The survival rate for surgery was still poor

  • Patients still did not have access to pain relief, which meant they could die from shock

  • Losing too much blood during the procedure resulted in death

    • Surgeons did not know how to replace blood during surgery

  • Surgeons continued to use dirty equipment

    • This meant many people died post-operation from infection

Change and continuity to apothecaries and surgeons

AWAITING IMAGE

A diagram showing the continuity and change of treatments in the Renaissance period

Renaissance physicians

Training

• Physicians were still trained in university but some changes occurred: 

  • new ideas slowly filtered into training courses which challenged physicians' thinking about the causes of disease

  • the development of the printing press led to a wider selection of textbooks on topics such as anatomy and iatrochemistry being available

  • if students could not afford a whole book, fugitive sheets were available

Practical experience

• Training continued to be mostly theoretical rather than hands-on experience in treating patients

• The declining influence of the Church meant dissection was allowed but it was hard to find fresh corpses:

  • in the 18th century, a craze called ‘body-snatching’ began

  • medical students or criminals would illegally dig up bodies to perform dissection

  • a famous example of this is William Burke and William Hare (known as Burke and Hare) in Edinburgh

    • They killed 16 victims to sell the bodies to Robert Knox, a Scottish anatomist

    • Body-snatching is sometimes called 'burking' because of this

Change and continuity to physicians

Care in the home in Renaissance Britain

The role of wise women

• Wise women still played an important role in care

• Home was the most common place for people to receive medical treatment

  • The London College of Physicians punished women for practising medicine without a license

  • Women were not allowed to attend university to receive the medical training required to become a physician

• Many people still relied on herbal remedies made by women as they were cheaper than a trained apothecary or physician

Early modern hospitals

Renaissance hospitals

• In the 16th century, many still visited hospitals to gain food, shelter and prayer

• Records show that increasing numbers of patients were discharged from hospital

  • This means that they were becoming more successful at curing patients with wounds and treatable diseases

• Physicians had contracts to treat patients

  • Many hospitals had apothecaries on site to create remedies

• The dissolution of the monasteries (1536) led to the closure of many hospitals

  • Monks and nuns were no longer able to provide the day-to-day care required to keep them open

  • It took a long time for hospital levels to return to the amount there had been in medieval England

• Smaller, charity-run hospitals replaced the previous Church-owned facilities

  • The priority of a medieval hospital was to care for, not cure patients, through comfort and prayer

  • During the Renaissance, a greater focus was on attempting to cure patients using medical treatments

• Famous hospitals in this period include:

  • St Bartholomew’s

  • St Thomas’

17th and 18th century hospitals

• There were many improvements to hospitals in this period

  • However, many issues with hospital care continued into the 19th century

• Famous hospitals from this period include:

  • Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge

  • The Bristol Royal Infirmary

Positives with hospital care

• Curing patients

  • The focus had changed to providing medical treatments. Doctors, apothecaries and surgeons were all on-site

• Increased access

  • The 'Deserving Poor' who could afford medical care could access trained doctors for the first time

• Isolation

  • Specialist wards separated patients with infectious diseases from other patients

• More hospitals

  • When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, hospital numbers decreased. By the mid-19th century, hospital numbers had increased 

• Specialist hospitals

  • Towards the end of the 18th century, more specialist hospitals appeared such as:

    • Bethlem Hospital (for the mentally insane)

    • London's Lock Hospital (for venereal disease)

Negatives with hospital care

• Unsafe

  • The rich received many of their medical treatments, including surgery, at home

• Selective

  • Hospitals turned away the 'Idle Poor' who could not pay their medical bills

• Unhygienic

  • More infectious patients were being treated in hospitals

  • Doctors did not understand Germ Theory so they did not wash their hands between patients

• Availability

  • Wealthy donors established hospitals, rather than the government

    • Some parts of Britain had too many hospitals

    • Other places did not have enough to meet the demand

New hospital designs

• Florence Nightingale influenced hospital design by:

  • Insisting on easily cleanable materials to be used in the building of hospitals

  • Promoting ‘pavilion style’ hospitals

    • Built on open ground

    • The hospitals had separate wings with wards for infectious diseases